Adobe® Flash® BuilderT 4 (formerly Adobe Flex® BuilderT) software can help you accelerate development, build higher performing applications, and more easily integrate new projects with your existing infrastructure. This feature-packed release is a must-have upgrade for Flex developers and improves workflow for developers and designers through integration with the new Adobe Flash CatalystT interaction design tool.

Adobe® Flash® BuilderT 4 (formerly Adobe Flex® BuilderT) software is designed to help software developers rapidly develop cross-platform rich Internet applications (RIAs) and content using the open source Flex framework. It includes support for intelligent coding, debugging, and visual design and features powerful testing tools that speed up development and lead to higher performing applications.

Flex is a highly productive, free, open source framework for building expressive web applications that deploy consistently across browsers, desktops, and operating systems by leveraging the Adobe® Flash® Player and Adobe AIR® runtimes. While Flex applications can be built using only the Flex framework, Adobe Flash BuilderT (formerly Adobe Flex® BuilderT) software can accelerate development through features like intelligent coding, interactive step-through debugging, and visual design of the user interface layout.

Using the open source Flex framework, developers can create more intuitive and engaging web applications that enable customers, partners, and employees to manage and interpret data more effectively. The results are increased productivity and greater user satisfaction. Embed micro-applications or components within existing websites, or revolutionize your entire web experience with immersive, single-screen applications built with Flex.

Flex is a free, open source framework for building highly interactive, expressive web applications that deploy consistently on all major browsers, desktops, and operating systems. Flex provides a modern, standards-based language and programming model that supports common design patterns. MXML, a declarative XML-based language, is used to describe UI layout and behaviors, and the object-oriented ActionScript® 3.0 programming language is used to create client logic. Flex also includes a rich component library with more than 100 proven, extensible UI components for creating rich Internet applications (RIAs), as well as an interactive Flex application debugger.

. Data-centric development. Introspect JavaT, PHP, Adobe ColdFusion®, REST, and SOAP services to display methods and properties in the new Data/Service Explorer. Bind methods to UI components using a simple drag-and-drop approach. . Integration with Adobe Flash Catalyst. Import Flex Projects (FXPs) created using Adobe Flash CatalystT software, saving time and improving the quality of the user experience. FXPs contain functional UI elements, including MXML, ActionScript® language coding, component skins, and graphical assets, enabling developers to focus on core application logic. . Network Monitor (Premium edition only). Generate a detailed audit trail of all data passed between the local Flex application and the back end, assisting with debugging and performance tuning. . Command line build (Premium edition only). Use the new command line build capability to automate your build process. . Flex unit testing integration (Premium edition only). Automate functional testing using the Flex unit testing framework. . Automatic generation of common code. Automatically generate code for accessor functions (getters and setters) and event handlers to speed up development of commonly used functions. . Code refactoring enhanced. Quickly navigate through code or restructure it by renaming all references to a class, method, or variable. Flash Builder 4 adds move refactoring. . Rich visual layout enhanced. Visually design and preview user interface layout, appearance, and behavior using a rich library of built-in components. Extend the built-in Flex framework components or create new ones as needed. . Debugger improvements enhanced. Set conditional breakpoints, evaluate expressions, and set watchpoints on variables to halt execution on value change. Use the Expressions view to watch variables selected in the Variables view and to add/evaluate watch expressions. Break out of a loop during a debugging session using run to line. . Custom templates. Customize default information contained in new MXML, ActionScript, and CSS files, such as author and date, introductory comments, copyright information, opening and closing tags and attributes, ActionScript declarations, namespace prefixes, and more. . Flex Theme Browser. Easily browse and import Flex themes and apply them to your project. . ASDoc support. Display comments in MXML and ActionScript editors using ASDoc. . Adobe Flash Professional workflow. Import and update custom Flex components using the new workflow between Adobe Flash Professional software and Flash Builder 4. . Skinning and styling enhanced. Customize the appearance of an application using CSS and graphical property editors. Quickly set the most commonly used properties and preview the results in Design View.